Ottawa, ON— After NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton made a Facebook post expressing solidarity with Palestinian rights, Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) joined with Canadians from across the country in offering their support.

“IJV is inspired by Ashton’s courageous support for human rights,” says IJV spokesperson Tyler Levitan. “It is rare for a Canadian politician to openly express their solidarity with the Palestinians’ plight.”

“Sadly, B’nai Brith Canada, which provides unconditional support for the far-right Netanyahu government, launched a smear campaign against Ashton for daring to express her solidarity with Palestinians facing human rights abuses,” continued Levitan.

At 8:30 am Cyprus time, the Free Gaza and the Liberty rounded the last cornerof this lovely island, escorted by the Cypriot Coast Guard, and pulled into onthe Northern side of the commercial port in Larnaca.

“We’ve been waiting a long time to unify our group, which has been splitbetween Cyprus and Crete . We are excited to combine both groups who have workedso hard on this project and are so enthusiastic about setting out for Gaza . Onthe way in today, we had the Cypriot authorities escorting us. Now, it’s timefor the world to escort us to Gaza .” Said Paul Larudee, one of theorganizers.